How to Organize a Presentation

It’s time for an in-depth look at how to organize a presentation from top to bottom. A clear structure is one of the biggest favors you can do yourself and your listeners. Clear thinking helps you stay on track and helps your audience remember your message. We’ll look at the introduction, body, and conclusion and all of the component parts for each section.

Different schools of thought exist on how to structure a talk. The following format works best when you are informing or teaching your listeners.

First, we’ll tackle the introduction.

This part should take up only the first 10% of your presentation. Don’t get long-winded in the introduction.

Also, the ideas should funnel down from more general ideas to the specific main point of your presentation. You’d start with an attention grabbing such as a story, statistic, or quotation. We covered some of these in recent videos. Next, your introduction should explain the relevance that your topic has for the specific audience you are speaking to that day. Listeners want to know how the message benefits them specifically.

See the video to learn the rest of the introduction, body, and conclusion parts.